The ideal tea situation for me means sitting at my table outside, listening to birds chirp as I pour small cups from my cast iron tea pot, the leaves having plenty of room for their gentle unfurling and floating. But of course, the reality quite often falls short of the ideal, and I’ve got to grab my tea and run; or I’m not even at home, but I’m dying for a good cuppa, and all I can find is awful cruddy tea. What can I do?

I have a few tea travel mugs with infuser baskets, but they are bulky, and then I have this big infuser basket to deal with. They do quite well for going to and from work, but not so much when I’m traveling in the great unknown. Then, before a recent vacation, I purchased paper tea bags for one to fill oneself. I love the convenience of them, but I do feel a bit guilty disposing of them. I don’t mind as much if I infuse with them a couple of times, but that’s not always a possibility. How to be green and yet be able to carry my loose leaf teawith me?

Be crafty! While stumbling around a few green blogs, I came across a pattern for a muslin tea bag. Not a bad idea at all! Muslin costs mere pennies for the amount of fabric you’d need, and you hardly need a pattern for a pouch. If you need one, feel free to search. I’ve also seen small muslin pouches sold as spice bags at kitchen stores. When you are finished, you just let them dry out, then turn them inside out and the leaves fall away. If you are in a rush, you can just turn them inside out wet and rinse the leaves. No mesh for them to stick to! The disadvantage is that you now have a wet tea bag, but a plastic baggie should do the trick. Just remember to reuse the baggie instead of throwing it away, and enjoy your “green” tea!

Check out Stephanie’s blog, The Tea Scoop!

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